businesses are looking ahead, and they're thinking with increased taxes, because of the fiscal cliff, if the worst happens, consumer demand is just going to fall off. they are already taking action today to try to prepare for that eventuality. but the consumer is kind of blankly ignoring this, and confidence is up for really lots of reasons. i mean, the net worth of households has been repaired. about two-thirds of it has come back as house prices rise and stock prices are now double what they were at the bottom in march of '09. when you look at state and local budgets, they're now much better with revenue rising. so the layoffs and budget cuts, we think are waning, if not over. housing is clearly coming back. things are improving and consumer confidence reflects that. >> tom: but there is that dark cloud of the fiscal cliff. you mentioned it earlier, businesses planning for consumer confidence to go off that cliff if we go off it as a country. do you not agree with that prospect? >> well, no. i believe it will -- if nothing happens and there is no agreement, i think there will be a m